Culinary Arts
Great cooking is an art that takes both talent and skill to master. If the kitchen is your happy place and cooking or baking is your passion, you can make it your career through the OCC Career Advantage Culinary Arts/Baking and Pastry programs. Our award-winning competition teams and long list of alumni working in top restaurants and hotel kitchens across the region demonstrate the quality of our basic and advanced programs. Our Advanced Culinary Arts program will prepare you to take the industry exam to become a Certified Culinarian, a designation recognized as a mark of excellence in the restaurant industry. OCC graduates are in demand and recruited directly into the numerous hot restaurants and top hotels and resorts in the LA/OC region. If you want a career at the top of this exciting, fast-paced restaurant industry, then read on to learn more.
A sampling of courses for these careers
Sanitation and Safety
Introduction to Hospitality Industry
Principles of Baking
Menu Planning and Purchasing
Bar Management
Garde Manger
Did you know?
The restaurant workforce makes up 10 percent of the total U.S. workforce, and 1.1 to 1.6 million new restaurant jobs are expected by 2027, according to the Association for Career Technical Education.
Program Details
Complete our certificate program, and you’ll be well-prepared to enter a career in culinary arts.
Build upon your skills if you’re already employed in the field. Or earn an associate degree for even greater advancement opportunities.
In less than 2 years
you can earn:
Certificate of Achievement
Build on your certificate
of achievement with a:
Certificate of Specialization
Or earn your
associate degree
in under 4 years
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Did you know?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people who have a certificate as
their highest level of education earned, on average, 20 percent more than
those whose highest education level is a high school diploma.
Our Team

Christina Anchondo, M.S.
CTE Outreach Specialist

Katie Ottoson, M.S.
Counselor, CTE and
Career Services

Andrea Lane
Counselor, Hospitality
Programs